Chapter 317 : Something Feels Off (4)

Exactly one week had passed since Alon arrived at the Mage Tower.

[Preparation is complete.]

Alon heard from Heinkel that the complete interpretation of the incantation was finished.

Time had already passed this much.

“That wrapped up faster than I expected.”

Alon couldn’t help but say that to Heinkel.

[Really? I finished it right on schedule.]

Heinkel made a face that said “huh?”

“……I probably couldn’t have done it that fast.”

“Me neither……………"

Penia, who was next to him, even sighed as she declared it.

The reason was because a few days earlier, she had personally been taught by Heinkel how to interpret magic.

She and Alon had devoted themselves to studying it, but their progress was next to nothing.

At first, Alon had some confidence.

He had Penia at his side, who was naturally gifted in magic, and in their past research together, even if they faced a bit of difficulty, they always managed to push through.

However, finding information within Tiered magic was unimaginably difficult—almost in the realm of the impossible.

Heinkel had effortlessly cast Ice Spear, saying it was just a matter of “removing unnecessary elements” from the existing structure, but Alon and Penia couldn’t even accurately identify what those “unnecessary elements” were, let alone remove them.

Just yesterday, they had spent over two hours discussing whether the idea that Tiered magic held embedded information was just Heinkel’s personal theory—an illusion too grand for them to chase.

At any rate, after experiencing the difficulty firsthand, Alon genuinely praised Heinkel.

[Hmph, well, I was kind of a big deal back in the day.]

Perhaps she felt good without realizing it, as Heinkel shrugged her shoulders and then got to the point.

[Alright, enough small talk. Let’s do this.]

“Right here, right now?”

[Why not?]

“Should we head to the practice room on the first floor?”

But Heinkel didn’t seem too enthusiastic.

[I don’t think doing it here would cause any problems. It’s just a light magic spell.]

“Y-Yeah, I agree, but the first floor has an artifact that shows the flow of mana visually………….. I thought maybe we could learn something extra..!”

As Penia subtly added her reasoning, Heinkel hesitated for a moment.

[Well, if that’s the case—]

She shrugged again and barely agreed.

To head down to the first floor, Alon and Penia led the way and boarded a transportation device similar to an elevator.

“By the way, Marquis.”

As soon as Alon stepped on the device, Evan leaned in and asked in a quiet voice.

“What is it?”

“Um, the spell you’re demonstrating… is it Light?”

“That’s right.”

“For that………… do we really need to analyze the mana type?”

Alon hesitated for a moment before answering Evan.

“Well, it’s not absolutely necessary.”

Light.

It was a Tier 1 spell in Tiered magic and one of the first spells all mages learned, alongside Magic Bolt.

Naturally, it had a very simple structure, arrangement, and mana requirement.

In other words, you didn’t need to go to the demonstration room to analyze the mana type.

A mage could usually tell the configuration just by looking.

Alon also questioned whether going to the first floor for Light was worth it.

But that only applied if the spell truly manifested as a standard Light spell.

“If it manifests through the incantation, it’s different. It’ll definitely help with future interpretation.”

“Hmm—I heard a bit about it. It sounded kind of grandiose for a spell named Light.”

Evan nodded.

“Yeah, something like that.”

Alon agreed.

The phrase Heinkel had given him after decoding the Light spell into an incantation definitely had a solemn tone to it.

‘I’m curious how the spell will actually manifest.’

How much time had passed with Alon lost in that thought?

Once they arrived on the first floor, they headed straight to the demonstration room.

“……Huh?”

“Hm?”

There, they saw an unexpectedly large number of mages.

“……That’s a lot of people.”

“Yeah……? It’s not even a conference day—this doesn’t make sense……?"

Penia mumbled with a puzzled expression.

“Sis?”

“Felin?”

Amid the crowd, Penia’s younger brother appeared.

In the short time they hadn’t seen each other, he had grown from a boy into a young man.

Alon also realized it had been quite a while since he’d last seen Felin.

“What are you doing here? Last time, you said you were going back to the marquis’ estate—”

Penia answered his follow-up question.

“I told you I’d be coming back soon, didn’t I?”

“You did say that. I just didn’t think you meant it literally.”

“What are you going on about? Anyway, what’s with this crowd?”

Penia gestured toward the demonstration room packed with mages.

“You probably didn’t know, but today is the presentation for the research project we collaborated on with the Green Mage Tower.”

“? Aren’t those all supposed to be handled during conferences?”

“This one’s a bit big, so we decided to push past the usual schedule and present it properly.”

“People gathered just for this?”

“Yeah, since the other mage towers were also pretty interested, it brought in quite the crowd. However—”

He sighed as he added that the ones preparing for the demonstration were dragging their feet.

Then he looked at Alon and asked,

“Do you need to use the demonstration room?”

“Yes, I do.”

“If it’s right now, you can go ahead. We’re not done setting up yet. But if it’s something confidential…… it might be a little hard to clear out all the mages again—”

As he trailed off, Alon subtly turned his gaze to Heinkel.

Even though Alon was the one doing the demonstration, it was Heinkel who had interpreted the Tiered magic.

But—

“?”

The Heinkel who had definitely been there moments ago was nowhere to be seen, and Alon was momentarily confused.

He slowly scanned the room.

Eventually, he spotted her peeking down from the ceiling of the Mage Tower.

For some reason, Heinkel was hiding her identity, something Alon now realized.

‘Do whatever you want.’

Seeing the shape of Heinkel’s lips, Alon replied,

“That won’t be necessary.”

Then he answered Felin.

“Alright, you may proceed immediately. But… may I ask what spell you’re going to demonstrate?”

Felin finally let his curiosity show.

After a brief pause, Alon answered slowly.

“Light.”

“……Light?”

“Yeah.”

“……That Light?”

“Okay, make way!”

It must’ve been because she was in front of a familiar face—Penia’s natural temperament seemed to burst out suddenly.

When she shoved him with irritation, Felin was pushed back helplessly.

Alon followed behind Penia, who walked confidently into the demonstration hall without hesitation.

“Huh?”

“Is that—”

“Marquis Palatio?”

The murmurs of the mages started the moment they appeared.

“I heard it from an apprentice near the entrance. Apparently, Marquis Palatio is going to perform a spell demonstration.”

“That Marquis Palatio?”

“Yeah.”

“Whoa~”

“But the spell he’s going to demonstrate is Light, apparently.”

“Huh? Light? …… You mean the Tier-1 spell?”

“Yeah.”

“And he came all the way to the demonstration hall for that?”

Alon’s presence and the news of his spell spread quickly throughout the room.

Pretending not to hear the murmuring, Alon let out a calm sigh, feeling a bit embarrassed.

‘Maybe I should’ve just told them after the demonstration.’

Even though he had received the incantation and phrases from Heinkel, the spell Alon was going to use was, ultimately, still just Light.

Naturally, all the expectation he felt from those around him was starting to weigh on him.

However, he had already walked confidently into the demonstration room.

Walking out now would’ve been even more awkward, so he sighed internally and recalled what Heinkel had told him.

‘The first thing you have to do to extract information from Tiered magic is to remove what’s unnecessary.’

He slowly murmured the incantation he needed to use.

‘Once you’ve eliminated the dregs and perfectly manifest the core spell, that’s when you start analyzing it.’

‘That part isn’t difficult. From that moment on, the remaining information becomes much clearer. Those three incantation phrases you’ll use will be enough.’

And so—

‘What’s left are the two sentences. Finding those isn’t hard either. You just take the information you used to find the incantations and look at it again. But this time, don’t search through the arrangement—look at the mana structure. Then…’

“Light (光明), Heat Source (熱源), Fixation (固定).”

‘Even without gaining the divine beast, you can still obtain all the information that Tiered magic offers.’

“Silence of the Dark Light.”

After finally piecing everything together in his memory, Alon formed the seal with quiet composure.

***

At first, Felin thought he had misheard what his sister Penia had told him.

But now, he realized that wasn’t the case.

Alon stood in the center of the demonstration room, which resembled an arena.

And the small light hovering in front of him—

Was incredibly weak.

It looked like a Tier-1 mage could’ve cast something even brighter.

“What is this, is that really Light?”

“Is this a joke?”

“No, I don’t think the Marquis is the kind of person to pull a prank like this.”

“True, but it really is that Light, isn’t it?”

“Even the new recruits this year could probably do better.”

Behind Felin, murmurs from the other mages continued to grow.

The excitement brought by the arrival of Marquis Palatio was about to turn into confusion and disappointment.

Until—

A quiet murmur escaped Alon’s lips.

And then—

“Huh?”

A strange hum slipped from one of the mages’ mouths.

After that, not even the tiniest sound was heard in the room.

The Light magic in front of the Marquis—began to show a mutation.

‘The light…’

‘Is being consumed?’

It was exactly that.

In the center of the manifested spell appeared something transparent.

‘It’ began to grow as it devoured the light generated by the magic.

The flickering light slowly began to consume its surroundings.

First the demonstration floor,

Then the audience seating where the mages sat,

Then their very sight,

And finally, the entire hall—voraciously.

‘That’s… Light?’

Felin—no, every mage watching had the same thought flash through their mind.

But none of them could deny what they saw.

Because they saw it with their own eyes.

That it was Light—that it had originated from Tier-1 magic.

And once ‘it’ had absorbed all the light and revealed its true form—

The mages’ breathing grew louder, and the silence in the room was shattered by shockwaves of awe.

And rightfully so.

“What the—”

“No way—”

What had formed in front of Alon after all the light had vanished was—

Crackle—!!

Something that resembled the sun.

A small sun that melted its surroundings as though it would burn everything to ash.

“Eye of the Sun.”

With Alon’s quiet declaration, the sun left his hand.

BOOOOOOM—!!!

It effortlessly broke through the multiple layers of magic circles that enclosed the demonstration room.

And soon destroyed even its outer walls.

Silence returned once again to the demonstration hall.

But it wasn’t like before.

It was a silence filled with reverence.

‘W-What… what is this…?’

And standing in the middle of it all—was Alon, the one who had performed the spell.

‘This is… Light?’

Of course, he was thinking the same thing too.